News

August 2nd 2013

Immunology, the new rock and roll?!

Read about an Irish Times Journalist's day in an Immunology lab http://www.irishtimes.com/news/science/the-road-to-discovery-is-paved-with-good-muffins-1.1480776

July 31st 2013

IRC Research MiniSymposium 2013 took place in TBSI on Wednesday 31st of July. Many members of the IRC gave detailed presentations mapping progress to date on their relevant work packages. Lively debate and discussion on the science presented and the future direction for Irish Immunology was evident throughout the day.

Full programme of the IRC Research MiniSymposium here.

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Many thanks to our sponsors: Murgitroyd & Company, Cruinn, Biosciences and Fannin Healthcare.

 

University breakthrough in fight against Crohns disease

Prof. Paul Moynagh tells the Irish Times that Pellino3 may protect against the development of the incurable Crohn’s disease http://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/university-breakthrough-in-fight-against-crohns-disease-1.1477630

 

INBIONET CELEBRATED THE FIRST TRAINING UNIT IN DUBLIN

The first INBIONET* Workshop took place in Trinity College Dublin from 19 – 21 June 2013. There were 12 INBIONET Fellows who participated in the workshop, together with three PIs (Andrew Bowie, Jose Bengoechea, Pavel Kovarik) and ten further invited speakers. The workshop took place in the Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute, and was also open to researchers working in the Institute to attend. The workshop comprised 13 presentations from experts in innate immunity, together with an outreach component and poster presentations. The presentations covered topics ranging from basic signaling mechanisms underpinning innate immunity to how pathogens interact with and are detected by innate immunity. 

*INBIONET, acronym standing for “INfection BIOlogy Training NETwork”, at the interface between microbiology, immunology and cellular biology, aims to explore some of the most novel themes that are beginning to emerge in the mechanisms by which pathogens manipulate host defence responses. Further, it is expected that this knowledge will lead to the development of innovative therapies based on the modulation of the host-pathogen interface.

 

June 2013

Vegetables protect against inflammatory diseases, TCD study finds

Prof. Kingston Mills talks to the Irish Times about vitamin A and inflammatory bowel disease - http://www.irishtimes.com/news/science/vegetables-protect-against-inflammatory-diseases-tcd-study-finds-1.1420628

 

 

IRC Postgraduate Student wins Young Investigator Award

 

Congratulations to Clare Cunningham from Dr. Aisling Dunne's Lab for winning the Young Investigator Award at the International Summer Frontiers Symposium entitled "When things go wrong in immunity: immunodeficiency from different angles" held in Nijmegen Institute for Infection, Inflammation and Immunity, The Netherlands (June 2013).

Clare presented her work outlining the pro-inflammatory properties of Osteoarthritis associated calcium phosphate crystals.

 

November 2012

CONGRATULATIONS!

Graham Tynan (Lavelle Lab) is now DR GRAHAM TYNAN!. Congratulations on a successful thesis defence!

 

Welcome!

Mathilde Raverdeau has joined the IRC as a postdoc in Kingston Mills' Lab. A big, warm, IRC-shaped welcome!

 

CONGRATULATIONS!

Marcin Baran (Bowie Lab) is now DR MARCIN BARAN. Congratulations on a successful thesis defence!

 

Publication alert!

Jones, S.A., Sutton, C.E., Cua, D., Mills, K.H. Therapeutic potential of targeting IL-17. Nature Immunology 13(11): 1022-1025. (2012).

 

October 2012

 

Self-Eating Cells May Hold key to New Inflammatory Therapies

A collaborative research project between Jim Harris, Kingston Mills and Ed Lavelle has identified autophagy as a potent modulator of inflammation in macrophages and dendritic cells. The work has been published in the Journal of Immunology. Full story (TCD) here.

Peral de Castro, C., Jones. S.A., Ni Cheallaigh, C., Hearnden, C. A., Williams, L., Winter, J., Lavelle, E.C., Mills, K.H.G., Harris, J. Autophagy regulates IL-23 secretion and innate T cell responses through effects on IL-1 secretion. Journal of Immunology 189(8), 4144-4153. (2012).

 

Publication alert!

Mellett, M., Atzei, P., Horgan, A., Hams, E., Floss, T., Wurst, W., Fallon, P.G., Moynagh, P.N. Orphan receptor IL-17RD tunes IL-17A signalling and is required for neutrophilia. Nature Communications 3, 1119. (2012).

Publication alert!

O'Neill, L. A. J. "Transflammation": when innate immunity meets induced pluripotency. Cell 151(3): 471-473. (2012).

Publication alert!

Ward, S. G., O'Neill, L. A. Spurs in the hunt for new immunomodulatory drug targets. Current Opinion in Pharmacology 12(4): 439-443. (2012).

 

September 2012

 

Publication alert!

Haneklaus, M., Gerlic, M., Kurowska-Stolarska, M., Rainey, A-A., Pich, D., McInnes, I.B., Hammerschmidt, W., O'Neill, L.A.J., Masters, S.L. miR-223 and EBV miR-BART15 Regulate the NLRP3 Inflammasome and IL-1beta Production. Journal of Immunology 189(8), 3795-3799. (2012).

Publication alert!

Wen, H., Ting, J. P., O'Neill, L. A. J. A role for the NLRP3 inflammasome in metabolic diseases-did Warburg miss inflammation? Nature Immunology 13(4): 352-357. (2012).

 

August 2012

Publication alert!

Peral de Castro, C., Jones. S.A., Ni Cheallaigh, C., Hearnden, C. A., Williams, L., Winter, J., Lavelle, E.C., Mills, K.H.G., Harris, J. Autophagy regulates IL-23 secretion and innate T cell responses through effects on IL-1 secretion. Journal of Immunology 189(8), 4144-4153. (2012).

July 2012

Publication alert!

Martin, S. J., Henry, C.M., Cullen, S.P. A perspective on mammaliam caspases as positive and negative regulators of inflammation. Molecular Cell 46(4): 387-397. (2012).

Publication alert!

Klionsky et al. (including J. Harris and S. Martin). Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy. Autophagy 8(4): 445-544.

June 2012

Publication alert!

Cunningham, C., Mills, E., Mielke, L.A., O’Farrell, L.K., Lavelle, E., Mori, A., McCarthy, G.M., Mills, K.H.G., Dunne, A. Osteoarthritis-associated basic calcium phosphate crystals induce pro-inflammatory cytokines and danger-associated molecules via activation of Syk and PI3 kinase. Clinical Immunology 144(3): 228-236 (2012).

Publication alert!

Stack, J., Bowie, A. G. Poxviral protein A46 antagonises toll-like receptor 4 signaling by targeting BB loop motifs in toll-IL-1 receptor adaptor proteins to disrupt receptor:adaptor interactions. Journal of Biological Chemistry 287(27): 22672-22682. (2012).

Publication alert!

Ni Cheallaigh, C., Peral de Castro, C., Coleman, M. M., Hope, J. C. & Harris, J. Macrophages and Tuberculosis. In R. Takahashi, H. Kai (eds.) Handbook of Macrophages: Life Cycle, Functions and Diseases. Nova, New York, pp 1-41. (2012).

 

May 2012

Travel Award

Congratulations to Michelle Coleman, who received a travel award from Genentech ($500) to attend the American Thoracic Society Meeting in San Francisco and present her work "Networked T cell death following macrophage infection by Mycobacterium tuberculosis".

Publication alert!

Macdonald, S.H., Woodward, E., Coleman, M.M., Nadarajan, P., Chew, W.M., McLaughlin, A. M., Keane, J. Networked T Cell Death following Macrophage Infection by Mycobacterium tuberculosis. PLoS One 7(6): e38488 (open access)

Publication alert!

Tynan. G.A., McNaughton, A., Jarnicki, A., Tsuji, T., Lavelle, E.C. Polymixin B inadequately quenches the effects of contaminating lipopolysaccharide on murine dendritic cells. PLoS One 7(5): e37621 (open access)

 

April 2012

IRC researchers make important breakthrough in eye disease

A collaborative research project between Sarah Doyle in Professor Luke O'Neill's Lab and the Ocular Genetics Group of Professor Peter Humpries at Trinity College, has led to a major breakthrough in understanding the mechanisms underlying age-related macular degeneration (AMD). The work has been published in Nature Medicine. Full story (TCD) here.

Doyle, S.L., Campbell, M., Ozaki, E., Salomon, R.G., Mori, A., Kenna, P.F., Farrar, G.J., Kiang, A.S., Humphries, M.M., Lavelle, E.C., O'Neill, L.A., Hollyfield, J.G., Humphries, P. NLRP3 has a protective role in age-related macular degeneration through the induction of IL-18 by drusen components. Nature Medicine 18(5): 791-798. (2012)

 

Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute to host International Cytokine Society Meeting

IRC Director Professor Kingston Mills, with Daniel Chua from Merck Research Laboratories in California, is organising the ICS meeting IL-17 and Related Cytokines: Basic Biology and Clinical Applications, to be hosted at the Trinity Biomedical Sciences Building. A number of IRC personnel will be attending and presenting, in what is an outstanding scientific line-up. Visit the official meeting website here.

On a related note, our sincere thanks to Cruinn and Sigma-Aldrich for sponsoring the participation of the IRC's very own Celia Peral de Castro at the conference.

 

March 2012

Publication alert!

Coleman, M.M., Finlay, C.M., Moran, B., Keane, J., Dunne, P.J., Mills, K.H. The immunoregulatory role of CD4 FoxP3 CD25 regulatory T cells in lungs of mice infected with Bordetella pertussis. FEMS Immunology and Medical Microbiology 64: 413-424. (2012)

 

February 2012

IRC Day - A Success!

The second IRC Research Day was held in the Guinness Storehouse, Dublin on 28th February. Talks from Kingston Mills, Luke O'Neill and Seamus Martin complimented a great day of presentations from postdocs and students. Many thanks to all involved and also our very generous sponsors (in no particular order): Eurogentec, Medical Supply Company, Cruinn, BD Biosciences, Murgitroyd & Company, Bio-Sciences, BTX Harvard Apparatus, Fisher Scientific, American Peptide Company, AbD Serotec and Opsona Therapeutics.

 

December 2011

IRC researchers make breakthrough with cancer vaccine.

A research team led by IRC Director Professor Kingston Mills have developed a vaccine that can kill cancer cells. Full story (Irish Times online) here. The study is published in Cancer Research.

Marshall, N.A., Galvin, K.C., Corcoran, A.M., Boon, L., Higgs, R., Mills, K.H. Immunotherapy with PI3K Inhibitor and Toll-Like Receptor Agonist Induces IFN-gamma+IL-17+ Polyfunctional T Cells That Mediate Rejection of Murine Tumors. Cancer Research 72: 581-591. (2012).

Publication alert!

Harris, J. Autophagy and cytokines. Cytokine 56: 140-144. (2011)

Publication alert!

Dungan, L.S., Mills, K.H. Caspase-1-processed IL-1 family cytokines play a vital role in driving innate IL-17. Cytokine 56: 126-132. (2011)

 

November 2011

Publication alert!

Cullen, S.P., Henry, C.M., Martin, S.J. Staying alive: defensive strategies in the BCL-2 family playbook. Molecular Cell 44(4): 509-510. (2011).

 

September 2010

IRC Researchers make diabetes breakthrough.

IRC scientists, led by Professor Luke O'neill, have made a new discovery on the possible underlying cause of diabetes. Full story (BBC online) here. The work has been published in Nature Immunology.

Masters, S.L., Dunne, A., Subramanian, S.L., Hull, R.L., Tannahill, G.M., Sharp, F.A., Becker, C., Franchi, L., Yoshihara, E., Chen, Z., Mullooly, N., Mielke, L.A., Harris, J., Coll, R.C., Mills, K.H., Mok, K.H., Newsholme, P., Nunez, G., Yodoi, J., Kahn, S.E., Lavelle, E.C., O'Neill, L.A. Activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome by islet amyloid polypeptide provides a mechanism for enhanced IL-1beta in type 2 diabetes. Nature Immunology 11: 897-904. (2010)

 

November 2009

Professor Luke O'Neill Awarded Science Foundation Ireland Researcher of the Year.

Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation, Conor Lenihan, has announced Professor Luke O'Neill of Trinity College Dublin as winner of Science Foundation Ireland's inaugural SFI Researcher of the Year accolade. Full story here.

 

October 2009

IRC principal investigator wins Boyle Medal

Professor Luke O'Neill has won the RDS Irish Times Boyle medal for Scientific Excellence, following his pioneering work on the molecular understanding of innate immunity and inflammatory diseases. Full story here.